In winter, there is a noticeable shortage of vegetables and fruits, so some housewives make various preparations for the winter. At the same time, many try to prepare sorrel. In the past, most greens were placed in jars, but today there are other ways. Quite often, sorrel is prepared for the winter by freezing.
Many people think that freezing greens is very simple and all you need to do is simply place them in the freezer. However, freezing sorrel is not an easy process, for which you need to prepare in advance. There are various recipes and methods for freezing greens that everyone should become familiar with.
Preparation
In order to be able to prepare sorrel soup all year round, you need to prepare a considerable amount of greens for the winter. To do this, you should familiarize yourself in advance with the nuances of preparing the plant for freezing. This will help to freeze it in such a way as to preserve all the beneficial properties.
First, you need to collect the entire crop from the plot and carefully sort it out to get rid of bad leaves. Regardless of the freezing method used, all collected sheets are thoroughly washed. Also, they should be dried thoroughly so as not to freeze the liquid.
To make the leaves dry faster, it is recommended to place them in a colander and wait until the water has completely drained.
After drying all the collected sorrel, you need to start slicing it. In this case, special attention should be paid to the stems of the plant. If they are not too rough, then you can leave them, as their taste is practically the same as the leaves. After cutting all the leaves with stems, you should familiarize yourself with the main freezing methods and choose the most suitable one.
Classic way
Very often, freezing greens is carried out using this method. To prepare winter preparations you will need the following:
- water;
- sorrel;
- small bowl or saucepan;
- knife and cutting board;
- towel.
It is recommended to harvest only the greenest and juiciest leaves for the winter. However, it is recommended to freeze them immediately after they have been collected.
It is very important that all collected greens are washed well. To do this, place all the leaves in a bowl of cold water and soak in it for 5-10 minutes. Then, they are all wiped with a towel and placed in a separate container.After this, all the washed leaves are carefully sorted to get rid of yellow or limp sorrel.
Having selected the best leaves, you can start cutting them. There are several methods for grinding them. Some housewives prefer to grind it using a blender. However, not everyone has this opportunity, so you can use a regular knife.
For slicing, all the leaves are folded into a small bunch and cut into small strips.
After this, the chopped liquid is placed in a separate plastic container. However, it will not be frozen in it, but in small trays with lids. Before placing the cut leaves in the trays, they should be thoroughly crushed. This is done so that more greens can fit in one tray. Then, all containers with frozen leaves are covered with plastic wrap and a lid so that during freezing the prepared sorrel cannot absorb foreign odors.
It is not recommended to store sorrel in the freezer for too long. After just four months it begins to darken and deteriorate.
Preparation in briquettes with nettles
Some housewives are interested in whether it is possible to prepare sorrel in containers other than trays. Small briquettes are often used for freezing. You can also freeze sorrel with nettles. With this preparation you can not only prepare a delicious soup, but also make your winter menu more varied. To prepare this winter preparation, you don’t need many ingredients:
- 300 g sorrel;
- 100 g nettle.
First you need to start preparing the greens. It is washed in cold water, after which it is necessary to separate the leaves from the branches. Then you can start slicing. The greens can be chopped together or separately.To do this, its bunches are laid out on a special board and finely chopped. After chopping all the greens, they should be transferred to a separate container.
The chopped ingredients are poured with hot boiled water and infused in it for about 20-30 minutes. Then everything is thoroughly wrung out to remove excess moisture and mixed. The prepared mixture is placed into briquettes and compacted into them. In the future, frozen greens can be used to prepare borscht or soups. They can also be used to fill pies or pies.
Conclusion
Not every person knows how to freeze sorrel for soup for the winter. To figure this out, you need to study cooking recipes and choose the best one.
